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Day 11 Wimbledon Preview

Federer Reaches 9th Wimbledon Final; Djokovic Halts Dimitrov in Four Sets

July 4 2014 ITS Staff - Top-seeded and 2011 champion Novak Djokovic returned to the final of the Wimbledon Championships on Friday. Dokovic beat No. 11 seed Grigor Dimitrov 4, 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(7) in a little over three hours in the first semi-final at championship at the All England Club.

 

Djokovic won six of the last seven points of the match after being down 3 set points in the fourth-set tie-break trailing 3-6. The 6-time Grand Slam winner served for the match at 7-6 tiebreaker but Dimitrov  staved-off the match point after a serve-and-volley tactic from Djokovic failed. Djokovic held for another match point and won the ensuing point when Dimitrov’s return sailed long.

 

The 23-year-old Dimitrov appeared in his first Wimbledon semi-final after ousting defending champion Andy Murray in straight sets on Wednesday.

 

Djokovic will face seven-time former champion Roger Federer who reached his ninth Wimbledon final after a solid 6-4 6-4 6-4 triumph over No.8 seed Milos Raonic in one hour and 41 minutes. 

 

The Swiss Maestro broke the big-serving 23-year old Canadian once in each set, first on the opening game of the match, the second and third time both on the ninth game of the last two sets.

 

Federer served six aces and blasted 32 winners committing 11 unforced errors while Raonic served 17 aces, hit 36 winners but made 17 unearned mistakes allowing Federer to take control of the match.

 

On Sunday, Federer will try to win an unprecendented 8th Wimbledon crown, and 18th Grand Slam title.

Wimbledon Men's Semi-final Friday July 4

1-Novak Djokovic beat 11-Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 7-6(2) 7-6 (7)

4-Roger Federer beat 8-Milos Raonic 6-4 6-4 6-4

 

Wimbledon Men’s Doubles Semi-finals Friday July 4

1-B.Bryan/M.Bryan beat 12-M.Llodra/N.Mahut 7-6(4) 6-3 6-2

V.Pospisil/J.Sock beat 5-L.Paes/R.Stepanek 7-6(5) 6-3 6-4

 

Wimbledon Women’s Doubles Semi-finals Friday July 4

2-S.Errani/R.Vinci beat 9-A.Hlavackova/J.Zheng 6-3 6-2

14-T.Babos/K.Mladenovic beat 13-A.Petkovic/M.Rybarikova 6-1 6-3

Men's Singles Semifinal Preview

atpworldtour.com: July 3, 2014 - Roger Federer may not have lost to Milos Raonic, but their 2012 Gerry Weber Open clash on the grass-courts in Halle was a tense affair. Federer withstood 25 aces to win 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3) in just under two hours. "I've played him in some interesting places like Halle where we basically didn't have any rallies whatsoever," said Federer.

 

Raonic admitted, "I've played him I believe four times now. He's gotten the better of me all four times. But I haven't played him I think in more than a year. So I think I'm a different player. I've got in close with him in the past and I've found a lot of those things I can sort of pull away that give me a lot of belief that I can do this. There's no point to talk about it. I've got to step up and do it."

 

Raonic is bidding to reach his first Grand Slam championship final with victory in his first major semi-final. Federer, in contrast, is hoping to advance to his 25th final and ninth Wimbledon title match.

A lot has changed since Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov last met at a Grand Slam championship. Thirteen months ago, Djokovic won their Roland Garros third round encounter 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.

 

Dimitrov will contest his first major semi-final on Friday on the back of a nine-match winning streak on grass courts. "The fact that he hasn't lost a match in the grass court season this year says enough about his quality," said Djokovic.

 

The 23-year-old Bulgarian has risen from No. 23 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the start of 2014 and will break into the Top 10 for the first time on Monday as a result of his performances at The Championships.

 

On Wednesday, he beat defending champion Andy Murray in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. "I'm sure many people look at him as a potential Grand Slam winner," said Djokovic. "Maybe here [or] maybe in the Grand Slams to follow."

 

This year, Dimitrov has also won three ATP World Tour titles on three different surfaces on the hard courts at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel (d. Anderson), on the clay of the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy (d. Rosol) and at the Aegon Championships grass (d. F. Lopez).

 

Djokovic is attempting to reach his third Wimbledon final and his 14th major title-match overall. The 2011 champion could reclaim No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings from Rafael Nadal only if he lifts the trophy on Sunday. He last held top spot on 6 October 2013.

Great fares to Europe and beyond.

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